George Harrison’s $1.6 Million Mistake
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- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
- The lawsuit involving George Harrison and his song “My Sweet Lord,” is perhaps the most famous example of copyright litigation in popular music. This video goes beyond the basics of the case, exploring not only interesting legal details, but also how the suit unfolded, Allen Klein’s conniving role, and George Harrison’s personal recollections about the experience.
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Sources:
A big thanks to Mr. Joseph Self who was of tremendous help in putting this piece together. He wrote a deep analysis of the case in 1993 (before the case officially concluded!), and was kind enough to dig back into things with me. He’s an attorney and a Beatles fan, and his article does an incredible job at clearly explaining the many facets of the suit.. You can read it online here: www.abbeyrd.net... Thanks Joey!
Mashup of "He's So Fine" and "My Sweet Lord" by foxmass58: • My Sweet Lord vs. He's...
1976 George Harrison Interviews:
- From the LP: “Dark Horse Records Presents A Personal Music Dialogue With George Harrison At 33 1/3,” Dark Horse Records. (More info: amzn.to/35BsqH9 )
Description: “A conversation between George Harrison and Radio & Records Editor Mike Harrison in 1976 to promote the 33 1/3 album.
- From Old Grey Whistle Test, BBC2.
Description: Former Beatle George Harrison, promoting the release of his album Thirty-Three and 1/3. Interviewed 30 Nov 1976 by Bob Harris at 40 Royal Avenue in London.
Book: “Decisions of the United States Courts Involving Copyright 1983" by Mark A. Lillis
Images of Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse, Manhattan, New York by Ken Lund. flickr.com/pho..., creativecommon...
Background music by Lekhan, “Aftermath,” used with permission. • Aftermath | Ambient Ci... , / @lekhan05
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JMJ
My parents wanted me to be a lawyer. This is as close as I’ll get.
Your parents are usurers
How about Pink Floyd stealing the bass line from Peter Frampton Do You Feel Like I Do into Brick In The Wall
A DJ could mix them together.
Same key, same beat.
It could be worse: becoming an Accontant. I did..ahem✌
@@jamesanderson348 F unny
The ultimate decision was that George unintentionally did what he did to have a great solo song made and the justice system made a mockery of songwriters and the music industry.
My favorite story regarding this case was the day the judge handed his decision down, he commented that lawsuits like this one seemed frivolous, and that he truly enjoyed both songs very much. Apparently, George's lawyer interrupted the judge by saying, "I thought you just said they were the same song."
F^cking hilarious!
Why do I believe this story? Because it is PROBABLY true!!!
There's an interview album from 1976 called, "George Harrison, A Personal Dialogue at 33 1/3." He's being interviewed about the release of that album, where he discusses it track by track. When they get to "This Song," George tells that story himself. It's a great interview, by the way.
I'm not saying it isn't true, but that's not normally how a written opinion is rendered in federal court. The parties learn of the decision when the opinion arrives at the attorney's office.
So George's attorney was WAITING to say that one.
I don't know how I feel hearing George Harrison saying "computer".
@ezzz9 It said 1976 on the screen.
No way George said that in 1976. Nobody knew what a computer was in 1976, and certainly never associated them with music or search engines. It would have to be late 1990's.
@@MrSwanley Umm, yes sir, computers existed since 1920's starting with analog computers, then developing to electrical-mechanical in the 1950's and then fully electronic computers were used in businesses and schools during the '70s. Home computers appeared in the late '70s. 1977 saw the release of several home computers like the TRS-80, Commodore Pet, Apple II Series. So it is not at all unusual for George to make that Statement in 1976.
George Harrison participated in internet chats back in Feb. 2001. He died in November of the same year.
www.forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/george-harrison-yahoo-chat-transcript-02-15-2001.11962/
@@MrSwanley I think it was 1976. There were computers back then, but these were the old-fashioned wall-sized things like what was used in computer dating.
Worst lawsuit for music lovers. After this Harrison's songwriting was forever stifled. Can you imagine the great songs that he never wrote because of this horseshit.
Yea it’s a shame: I feel itd be somewhat different if it was some no name, but it was George Harrison
doccyclopz George Harrison only got sued because of the money he made from My Sweet Lord and the fact that he was a Beatle. I think a lot of jealousy played out in this ridiculous case
Think about it: All those great songs he wrote after that just because he learned not to steal anymore.
doccyclopz
First instinct as a music listener not simply legal jargon isn’t is by far No
Oh come on. If you wrote something and someone took the idea you created and made millions off of it what would you do?
These lawsuits are completely ridiculous, there's 12 fricking notes to work with. You can't own simple note successions. Then playing a simple arpeggio of ANY chord would be considered plagiarism of a ton of song melodies.
Just caught your Beatles VR video. Super creative. Thanks for stopping by!
@@FabFourArchivist ay thank you very much!! :)
GabzitoHD - No, it´s not only the part of the melody of He´s So Fine, it´s also the (boring) harmony structure which goes several times from the minor 1st to the major 4th step of the key. And additionally it´s the very similar background harmonies and about the same tempo and groove. All in all it´s a plagiarism but I doubt if George was aware of it. He simply was too rich and too successful to become a plagiarist. But he was too careless I guess. For example: Paul asked all of his friends if they already knew his tune which became Yesterday. But neither George Martin nor anybody else could tell him that this piece was a well known oldie. So he became convinced that this probably was his own song. George should have done something similar before recording that tune.
In many cases, your point is valid. In this case, the melody, created by a repetition of a short phrase, is long enough to be legally protected , long enough that another composer could easily make a few changes to make it their own. The fact that the next section of the song is ALSO virtually identical, (not brought up on this video), made the case even stronger. Yes, a simple arpeggio, with an original rhythm, repeated a few times, & presented in the forefront of an arrangement as the melody of a song, is EXACTLY what's legally protected.
The entire Western musical canon, from Rome til today.
Why did I read the title as “George Harrison’s $1.6 Million Milkshake”? I got excited for a second
He is known to have liked real expensive stuff...
And Travolta thought a $5 shake was expensive....
Lol I would DEFINITELY drink that. Must have 24k gold flakes in it. Haha 😂 lol
🤣😂🤣
Sophie Sophie, Oh Sophie, where is said milkshake?
In Queen's "We Are The Champions", when he says the line, "No time for losers..." it's sung to the tune of the school yard taunt, "Nyah nyah nyah-nyah nyah!" Ronald, my third-grade bully should sue.
The nyah nyah nyah also. turns up at the end of Toby Keith's How Do You Like Me Now
Yes, but unlike with Harrison this was 100% intentional and the whole point, and also the schoolkid who wrote "Nyah nyha ne-nyah nyha" (or "Ner ner ni-ner ner") in 1973 forgot to register his song for copyright so it was fair game.
How is the song called
@@josh44026 It's 'Neh neh-ni neh neh' but long before the Queen song, schoolkids would also add the line "We are the champions" after scoring a goal. I have never heard "Neener neener niner nay" but I think Bowie covered that one.
Dave Cochrane There are two. The one I remember was nah nah neeyah nah, as sung by the Scaffold in the Jennifer Eccles verse of Lily The Pink.
Every song ever created will remind me of another. There are only so many notes and chords to play with.
@Grim Reefer Yep, how many songs are based on simple one four five blues progression? A huge number of songs.
That's the dumbest shit I have ever heard. Music has infinite possibilities. I can name hundreds of singers and bands from 100 countries in the world whose music bears absolutely no resemblance to each other. Just STFU, ffs
There’s always one lol 🙄
Absolutely correct, James.
@@RogueReplicant Did your parents have any children that lived?
How many songs use those 2 chords. Absurd lawsuit
Not just the chords, but same melody in both the verse and chorus. I love Harrison but he totally pinched this.
James Fetherston, totally agree. I spotted it on my first hearing of My Sweet Lord. It may not have been deliberate but it's inconceivable that George hadn't heard the Chiffons. It's happened before. The Beachboys ripped off Chuck Berry's Sweet Little Sixteen for Surfin' USA.
@@jamesfetherston1190 I dont buy it. I have heard several songs that have these same notes, the women should be Sued because those three notes and melody predate even their work. Let's get them for 30 million. Sorry both of yall are full of shit. Sure there is a slight similarity but it was not copied.
4brens totally agree
@@nickdaskalakis9289 I don't. Anyone who says that these two songs aren't virtually identical is either biased to Harrison because he was a Beatle, racist because the guy who wrote She's So Fine was black, or just deaf.
Imagine if The Beatles sued everyone who ever “ripped them off” lol
Oasis have joined the chat.
Beatles have also ripped off a few. Music inspires music. But some of these lawsuits are downright ridiculous and just chasing money and clout.
@@rubberducky4074 True, for instance, Chuck Berry.
Like The Beatles invented their sound. 😂😂😂
@@rubberducky4074 But not this one.
Not one person ever thought of "He's So Fine" when listening to "My Sweet Lord". It was a BS lawsuit.
@Tatsujiro Kurogane I am an award winning composer & musician, but I may be slow.
Another incredibly dumb comment... this page is an absolute gold mine of idiocy.
Actually, HSF was the first thing I thought of when I first heard MSL, and that was when it came out, before the lawsuit. I thought, "Did anyone tell him?"
@@RickJones222 Fixed that for you:
"I am an award winning c̶o̶m̶p̶o̶s̶e̶r̶ ̶&̶ ̶m̶u̶s̶i̶c̶i̶a̶n̶ thief & record player"
Rolling Stone's review of the song mentioned that it was a cover of He's So Fine with Doo Lang replaced with Hare Krishna. If those clowns hear it, it must be true!
George got screwed !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They saw $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$- & robbed him. How can you make a claim to 3 musical notes???
I mean they do sound very similar. Cmon now
@@TemptingNoise not that similar
@@michaelortega9174 What makes it slightly dis-similar. is, the girls bend the tones.
Greed
It wasn't jusy 3 notes - they were just the core of the case. The rhythm sounded extremely similar.
"He's so fine" and "my sweet Lord" are just 3 syllables. If he sang "I like pie" or "dogs are cool" it would have sounded the same, too.
Exactly. George must have had a bad lawyer.
@@2kalubafak404 It's just that he was famous and the song did well on the charts, otherwise no one would have bothered. There are many people who use other people's material all the time, no one cares cos they are not as famous as George.
"My dog has fleas."
🤣 Seriously, the degree of idiocy in these comments is beyond satire.
I like pie (doo lang doo lang doo lang)
Obviously, this really hurt George and it's a shame because this happened when he was putting out an album a year and after this lawsuit, he withheld writing/releasing songs for 3 years.
I wonder if George ever felt bad about recycling those Chuck Berry riffs
Yeah, because he had to go back and to Lennon and ask him how exactly to steal people's music and get away with it.
@@sunnyjim1355 good artists copy. great artist steal
@Jose Gabriel Villanueva Duabe take a look the story behind Come Together and you will see what Lennon did after that.
@@empresaglova1268 4 more to go...
George Harrison didn't make a "mistake"; he wrote a song. He was also ripped off with a piece of legal stupidity; he was conned.
Donde Merlin what's your point? there's a line between plagiarism and inspiration. plagiarism is blatantly copying a part of a song, and publishing it as your own. inspiration, on the other hand, is taking what you've heard, and putting your own little spin on it, and changing it up.
this lawsuit is abysmal. for 3 notes? come on. a painter would be insane to sue another painter for using the same shade of blue as them. on the other hand, if they were to blatantly copy a building, landscape, and palette, that would be a different story.
He could afford it . . . so what
@@TAROTAI whether or not he could "afford it" is not the point.. Ripping anybody off, regardless of whether they have more or less money than you, is still ripping somebody off. Having lots of money doesn't make anyone fair game. Try robbing a politician or high court judge and see how far you get...
@@TAROTAI That's largely what seemed to decide the case, too.
@@TAROTAI still took a toll mentally on him. Yes it’s similar, but they’re both three syllables, you can’t copyright a song structure that simple…
Imagine every 50s song for using the same blues chords, it would never end!
You got it!!! I'm so incensed I've played ALL my country records backwards to see who's copying--and alls I got was my dog back--My truck back-- and my house back!!
There's only 12 different notes and there's a finite number of ways to combine them in a way that sounds good. Steal an entire song? Fair enough. 3 consecutive notes? That's ridiculous, and everyone knows that except for the plaintiffs and their lawyers.
That isn't how music works. There's keys, notes, progression, scales, etc.
For George to use the same chord progression as the other song is enough of a similarity to warrant a lawsuit.
Steal an entire song? No. Steal a chord progression? Yes. That's how this works. Don't pretend you understand something when you very obviously do not.
@@hioeo dude if that was the case, rip all 4 chord songs.
@Sam Armstrong They're not. They're the same *intervals* but not the same notes, because they're in different keys (you'll notice the comparison must be "pitch adjusted").
I forgot the key change in MWL at the end. At this point, the notes are the same.
Three of the same notes, in two songs with far more differences.
In this case, it's not only three notes. Not only the three words "My sweet lord" are basically the same notes as "He's so fine" with the same progression, but they are also answered by a choir in pretty much the same way (only with "Hallelujah" instead of "Doo-lang Doo-lang Doo-lang"), and the song progression to "I really want to see you" also matches how "He's so fine" progresses only that in that case, the Chiffons stay on the same chord, while George Harrison changes chord.
I think the most incredible thing about this whole debacle is George’s reaction to the incident. Talk about a positive attitude! This guy was pretty amazing! George was always my favorite member of the group and this just reinforces those feelings.
That's because he knew he'd been caught. Blatant theft. The judge was very generous, he knew what he was doing...
@@james_44 shut up James
@@nich2632 Good argument, well made.
@@james_44 No, he didn’t. These lawsuits are often BS and everyone in the music community knows it. Sounds like you know very little about songwriting.
@@Cheddar_Wizard I've almost certainly forgotten more than you'll ever know...
I've heard both of those songs many times over the years, but never have I associated one with the other. 50's music sounds so much different than 70's songs that even a few notes went unnoticed to my ears.
We're only talking about 3 notes. The case should have been thrown out of court for that reason alone.
Well that 1.6 million dollar mistake happens to be one of the best songs ever written.
Just shows that Macca was right about Klein.
How about the time bowie and queen stole Ice’s song?
@Malynda Smith r/wooosh
bruh under pressure was released long before ice ice baby was. if anything vanilla ice stole from bowie and queen
@@sandoichi._ my god... you aswell?
Joris van Dijk yeah lol it had to be said
chef short for cheffrey you don’t get it... ITS A JOKE
As many have pointed out in the past,....there are only 12 notes.
@G&MM Only 12 notes in the western hemisphere. There's actually more notes, semi-notes than we realize.
Hannah that’s not the point really, it’s more about the fact that basing a lawsuit only over chord progression is stupid since the chords that make a good progression are those ones and if you use them you shouldn’t be sued.
@@luxi1216 Yeah the chord progression or a few notes shouldnt be enough, it should be the song as a whole, this lawsuit seems ridiculous to me, there are many many songs that share chord progression etc, but that doesnt make them the same. Im a songwriter myself, so i have some direct insight into this, im not famous or anything though, but im a huge fan of The Beatles.
@G&MM There are NOT infinite combinations PERIOD!
@G&MM That's not literally what the article states. The combination, however large, is finite.
Warren Zevon's - "Werewolves of London" & Kid Rocks' "All Summer Long" - The biggest rip-off I have ever heard!
And yet the Doors got off when they blatantly ripped off the Kinks "All the day and all of the night" with "Hello I love you can you tell me your name" which is far more than three notes, it's the whole line of 11 notes.
While I'm a big Doors fan--there are definite similarities!!!! Read the other comment above
Didn't know they got off? Thought they got done cold for that? Both brilliant songs though.
The doors were just of wannabe musicians, one of the most overrated bands of all time
It must be extremely difficult these days to come up with a riff or melody that does not sound like something done before, especially pop/rock music of the last 70 years no matter how obscure. Probably the reason rap and hip-hop are now so popular.
gwwayner I don’t see how anyone can prove these songs were alike. We know pop rock when we hear it because it sounds alike, the same goes for gospel, disco, metal, classic rock , love songs and many more. All automobiles looked similar in the 40’s, 50’s 60’s snd do on. Did the designers cheat?????? Why didn’t I see a 2020 Ford a Raptor built in 1968? Probably because it looked more like a Chevy. I could go on but I hope you get what I’m saying
True, but who wants to spend years in the courts making the lawyers rich? Sadly, people these days will sue at the drop of a hat or a few notes of a song.
Yes, and if beats or ryhthm become copyrighted no song will ever be written again. Also, what about sampling in early rap?
@@gwwayner If they do sue someone, then everyone should computer analyze every song 'they' ever recorded and then tell him that he is now being sued by 'Gary Nobody'.
Lol almost every rap or hip hop song now adays sounds exactly the same
Klein' the one who went after that group for Bittersweet Symphony.
The Verve.
Now, that's one I'm upset about
Ridiculous lawsuit.
A ridiculous lawsuit for Ridiculous song
The Judge was in a tough spot with the "hot potato" case...
The fact remains that, intentionally or not, My Sweet Lord is a near identical reproduction (musically) of He’s So Fine, which is unlawful. This is what copyright is all about
There are plenty of songs that sound like other songs in fact there are videos on youtube about that.
hifijohn Yes but not everyone wants to or has the means to take it to court.
I love Harrison's slide guitar in his version of "He's So Fine".
🤣
I still think it's ridiculous that you can own a pattern of vibrations.
Are you flying?
you just described all property czcams.com/video/fW6JFKgbAF4/video.html
I have given this plenty of thought over the years. I still say Mr. Harrison got railroaded by snake oil slime Klein. I wrote stand up comedy jokes in 1995 about O. J. Simpson and watched another stand up steal THREE in a row on stage. He swears that he wrote( similar) himself and even showed me his journal with hundreds of handwritten jokes and notes. Can two minds create in similarity? Yes they can. Even the Judge in Harrison's case believed George that this case was NOT a deliberate copyright.
George wrote some of the best songs of the Beatle's Canon and NONE of his songs, like "Something", "Here Comes the Sun", and his classic "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" are so different from even each other stands the test of both talent and time.
I will defend George till the day I die.
You are entitled to your opinion, and I don't write to try to dissuade you, but I think the testimony from the expert Harrison hired for the trial on the question of liability (was the song too similar) shed a lot of light on the matter for the judge. From footnote 11 of the reported decisions (420 F.Supp. 177 (1976)):
"Even Harrison's own expert witness, Harold Barlow, long in the field, acknowledged that although the two motifs were in the public domain, their use here was so unusual that he, in all his experience, had never come across this unique sequential use of these materials. He testified:
"The Court: And I think you agree with me in this, that we are talking about a basic three-note structure that composers can vary in modest ways, but we are still talking about the same heart, the same essence?
"The Witness: Yes.
"The Court: So you say that you have not seen anywhere four A's followed by three B's or four?
"The Witness: Or four A's followed by four B's."
The uniqueness is even greater when one considers the identical grace note in the identical place in each song."
@Patz13 Seven natural notes and five accidental notes. Not 8 and 4; not whole and half. Whole and half notes refer to beats. Not sure about the railroad, though.
@Patz13 "There are only 8 whole notes in the modern scale, plus the 4 half notes." There are 12 notes to an Octave. Period. No 'half-notes'. You clearly have no understanding of music theory.
So can George sue Zeppelin?
"Babe,I'm gonna Leave You While my Guitar Gently Weeps" Or John sue Neil? "Dear Prudence I've seen the Needle and the Damage Done"?
Agree, but just remember that "Something in the way she moves" was written by James Taylor, and Harrison's "Sour Milk Sea" ends repeating "get back, get back" in The Beatles and Jackie Lomax recordings.
George could have sued Paul Weller of the Jam in 1980 for Start, a UK no 1 that heavily borrowed from Taxman. But he had too much style.
@Gary Twitchett and the guitar riff. It's clearly a steal.
@G&MM It doesn't matter who plays an instrument or comes up with an idea. The song was composed by George Harrison, and therefore he could have sued, had he had the inclination. Fortunately for Paul Weller, he decided that life was too short! Like I should have, in replying to this!!
@Gary Twitchett is it?! Forgive me your honour, I thought it was about musical plagurism in general!
George sued Ringo
@@Deadbolt75 and Ringo sued himself by accident...
not to be mean and it's not - IMITATION IS THE BEST FORM OF FLATTERY. How do you compose anything without being inspired by things you hear. Lucky animals can't claim this copy infringement thing, or there would be no songs. I love that Harrison added how glad the song helped people who needed the inspiration.
Imitation is the *severest* form of flattery
Often times it’s not the artist that actually sues, it’s the suits. They don’t care about the artistry, they care about the money.
NOW you are onto something!
Stop listening to music keep your mind clear. . If you have nothing original to say, Don't write songs. Don't be lazy and copy others. It's too easy today to sample etc. Find your muse
I’ve had over 200 songs published and about 20 songs recorded by major artists, so I can speak with some authority. This was not imitation. This was a good 12 bars of identical melody, background, and chord progression.
I never thought once as many times as I listened to My Sweet Lord that it reminded me or remotely sounded like He's so Fine.
Thank you! You have explained this whole episode in time so much better than anyone else I've heard... and you made it entertaining too!
Well at least my sweet lord was better than hes so fine by a mile
Millions of miles, I’d say.
Agree!
@@holly03282008 Double agree.
A mile? That's it? I could walk a mile right now in a few minutes, if I wanted to.
Harrison never had an original idea in his life.. he was just a parasite on McCartney's arse.
Are you kiddin me???
Man... it must be so hard to be original in the music business.
So, Who owns the E minor Chord? & who owns the A Major Chord? I've got some busking to get on with but I'll need to get permission before they come and take half my earnings out of my guitar case! 😮
Similar to what my wife says. She plays great piano.
MONTY! If you don't mind me saying, the biggest problem is the "intellectual concepts" that Americans
invent that become the law and property of the United States. What off-shore musician is going to
work hard enough to hire an international copy-write lawyer just to get going? And when an American
grabs your video or song and does it again with his media access, it's self-defeating from the start.
Look how Americans nailed George Harrison over three words. Doing business by lawyers isn't good,
and George Harrison says here his financial profit from the song was higher than his legal costs,
saying it worked out for him. When "My Sweet Lord" was on the charts, I learned it with a friend.
My comments are not simply opinions. Look what Led Zep did and how they paid decades later.
You have to see this as being part of the British Invasion, now getting some American blow-back.
And to think that George was "the sensitive one".
Oh! Talking musical concepts, let me see if I can tweak your wife. Are there left-handed pianos?
Is an ordinary piano left or right-handed? Left-handed people invented instruments that right-handed
people play upside-down. How's that, not a concept, but a musical truth? Orville Gibson, 1850, lefty.
He played a guitar he built himself with the bass strings on the bottom with the highs on top, how I play.
And how every other guitarist has to play if he wants to solo up high on the bass strings with effects,
while upper G,B and E strings ring out open with effects to sound like two guitars at once, jammin'it,
doing a sitar imitation, zither, not having to scrunch your fingers up to play lead on the thin strings,
having your barre chord finger always there if you want to hold a note for a jazz chord or deaden strings
for feedback use. Oh yeah! Playing left-handed, what a concept! Maybe the Hendrix Estate will patent it.
Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple said once you learn your first 2 chords to get a good lawyer.
I own C Major 🙋♂️
This is what concerns me about future copyright infringement lawsuits. Are we going to start declaring elements of songs or songwriting (a chord, a rhythm pattern) to be exclusive property?
i'm not a religious person whatsoever but my sweet lord is so good
Absolutely agree with you . . . X 10
Yes it is.....not religious anymore. But there is spirituality wich is corrupted easely by religious Institutions. Thats a pitty
@@lotharluder2743 Isn't it?
Better than He's So Fine
@@mikailstacy8245 calm down loll i believe in science
Just waiting for Pachelbel to rise from the grave to sue Maroon 5 for stealing Canon in D for "Memories".
It's not just maroon 5...
There's numerous songs that rip Pachelbel ...
Green Day Basket Case
Vitamin C Graduation Song
Blues Traveler Hook
Laverne & Shirley theme song
Areosmith Cryin
Etc etc etc...
Look up "Pachelbel Rant" ok CZcams and you'll find it a guy with an acoustic guitar talking about being a kid playing cello and how he hated Cannon in D
And the Beach Boys' "Lady Lynda" borrows a tune from Bach ...
czcams.com/video/6i86jmFE8dc/video.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Lynda
And All Together Now by The Farm. It's all over the place.
I remember both these songs. Who cares if they sound alike?! Both these songs made people happy. The subject matter of each song is completely opposite. One song is about a fine guy. The other is about the Lord. They both have the very high value of having made someone happy.
Yeah, and maybe the Lord is a Fine Guy anyway ...
So both songs are about some guy who is fine..
and the music taken by itself is somewhere between banal and vacuous.
I would argue that the two songs do not sound the same. Harrison was precisely correct, that he got sued over 3 notes. 3 notes should not and do not IMO amount to a copyright violation.
Wow, George really saw into the future. They should call it "The George Harrison Effect" when it happens these days.
A perfect example of a good person getting screwed by someone evil
Evil, itself, hated a song that was written to honor and give praise to the Lord. So many evil bastards who try to ruin anyone good or any good deed. Sad.
@@Doggirl1007 Sounds like a good way to get away with stealing
@@Doggirl1007 Was it not John Lennon who once said The Beatles were more popular than Jesus?
George turned an ordinary song into a masterpiece that will live forever.
I never believed that lawsuit. I thought it was ridiculous and someone just wanted money.
I hear the original far more often on the radio.
@@francesvandeburgt4173 The melody, harmony, chorus and background singers are the same music. So Ronnie Mack's estate was perfectly justified, no matter what you're prejudices.
@@howie9751 No. And that's evident.
John Lennon said he warned George that it sounded too much like "He's So Fine" and should changed it a bit. But George didn't agree and left it as is.
Like what happened to Lennon's "come together" with a chuck berry's song
In that interview, Lennon said that George should've known better. That was NOT a warning. Lennon was bullshitting, as usual.
Chris Stapleton's "Broken Halos" has the exact same chord structure and melody in the verses as the song "Green Apples" by Chantal Kreviazuk.
Shhhhhh... we can't start this again.
The only reason I’m a good person is because I don’t want to spend eternity with a bunch of lawyers in hell.
yeeaa, cause they will find a way to sue you for being there
@@sideswiped6874 Good and good
Lol
SAW
LOL That’s a STRONG POINT and FUNNY LOL.
Then that's why you'll forever be a loser.
Money makes people devilish! Especially Lawyers and Judges! 🤑🤮
Absolutely ridiculous the judge ruled the way he did. Can't believe it.
No it wasn't. The two songs are obviously identical and George, although unintentionally, did appropriate the Chiffons' song
Have you read the two opinions by the trial judge, one on liability, the other on damages?
@@josephself2610 No, but all I know is that the song My Sweet Lord is completely similar to He's So Fine and on the basis alone it's enough to warrant a judgement in the latter songwriter's favor.
Lots of songs are similar, the probability that a chord pattern has not been used ever is so low so this lawsuit was BS.
@@lwmson - I don't believe it for one second. The chord progression may be similar, but that means nothing when all the lyrics and melody change. It's a different song.
0:01 44 years later and STILL no one has invented a convincing program that can do this! Such a gap in the market
Pied Piper tried but then got distracted by all the compression nonsense
Klein is the reason the music industry took a nasty turn. He and a few others that played the industry for everything it had.
When we have more music in the future, everyone will sue someones song all the time
It's going on now. Artist that ripped a hook from another artist are suing other artist for ripping that hook they ripped.
There are only 26 letters in the alphabet and yet we all use words that someone has used before.
Yeah, very often you'll find some letters in the same sequence in many words. It's really rough, and really tough and....I know...ENOUGH!
@@ClarenceFisher You're obviously a man of few words.
"EVERYONE" uses the same words someone else has used before? Oo goh Splock yuo selp!
Dumbest comment here, by far. Seriously, just... 🤐
@@sunnyjim1355 Clearly you've missed the point. I was comparing letters with musical notes, i. e. repeats are inevitable.
I have no doubt that the infringement wasn't intentional. It was just that the song She's So Fine was subconsciously embedded into George's head when he "composed" My Sweet Lord. I know from personal experience, as I have TRIED to write songs and later realized that I re-wrote someone else's hit record.
I absolutely agree, and have also had it happen to me. There's even a fancy technical word for this phenomenon, but I can't remember what it is.
I also agree its happened to me too
The Universe should be sued for allowing subconscious plagiarism. Im serious.
@@CZcamsallowedmynametobestolen I cannot remember either but at my university it was taught in intro psychology so there is no doubt that it is done in vast amounts.
Inspiration is built on what we internalize, hear..
The key is making it your own.
After you have done that what makes it yours that you can make claim copyrights ?
What have you really created that is yours alone ?
Lets say you make a song with only one note !
Copyright that song !
Does that mean from then on no one ever again can make a one note song ?
I believe a minimum of complexity uniqueness etc should be required for copyrights.
I believe George made it enough his own, and that the simplicity of the "she's so fine" melody does not merit extreme copyright.
The success of either song does not stand on the exact conformity to each other.
Does anybody have a claim to a blues progression ?
The end of Killing of Georgie by Rod Stewart sounds like Don't Let Me Down.
Lennon: "The lawyers never noticed."
D'accord!
There used to be a radio station that has a segment where they picked songs from the top ten. Then they'd find as many old songs that sounded the same. Sometimes they had as many as 6 or 7 songs that it sounded like they copied, almost to the point of seeming like a blatant copy. But in reality theres only so many notes to arrange and we all influence each other.
The guitar riff on America's 1975 #1 hit "Sister Golden Hair" was inspired by My Sweet Lord. Sister Golden Hair was also produced by George Martin. Further Showing Harrison was a Peaceful man and understood there is such a thing as borrowing or showing respectful idolization.
The law on copyright, there is no need to show any more proof than three identical notes ,whether by innocence or intent, one note or two are ok,this all came about from decades of abuse before George.
They talked about that during the Sun Studio tour in Memphis. It was super common in the early 1050's to swipe melodies.
To me the biggest example is Lennons So This is Christmas( War is Over) it's the same melody as "Stewball" as old folk song by Peter Paul And Mary.
😯
@G&MM I realize this too. These musicians are all thieves. Stealing everybody else's music..lol
@G&MM If you were, Anonymous and everyone was stealing your songs, You wouldnt want anybody knowing name either! And Stewpot was a Stewball typo..damn spellcheck.
@G&MM Someone is collecting royalties from the recordings,so it belongs to someone. At least where the publishing is concerned.
Ya cant tell me Paul Stookey and or Lennon didnt make a cent from these recordings. Or maybe they listed Anonymous as a co- writer?..😉😲
@G&MM True. But if they, whoever,makes one little change in the melody, they can list it their own.Music and lyrics. I'm not sure if any of them did this but it can be done. I'm a professional musician in this biz over 40 years.😌
The hilarious thing is that it encourages artists to directly plagiarize (just to get it out of the way), and then slightly alter enough notes in order to evade any claims of plagiarism. That's why songs like "Dark Horse" can probably escape any serious liability, since the "atmosphere" and rhythm is similar, but enough of the core, melodic elements are different.
Wish I was the judge I'd dismiss all these stupid copyright claims.
All these songs are sufficiently different from the original to be a different creative piece of work.
How about "Surfin' USA" - Beach Boys and "Sweet Little Sixteen" - Chuck Berry? Almost Identical.
Daniel Trickey i think Berry actually gets a writers credit on “Surfin’ USA”. And John settled stealing some Berry lines for “Come Together”.
@Elite Soulfly My point. George's song was not intentional either.
I've heard Brian Wilson tell the story and it sounds like Him and Mike Love intentionally wanted to write different words to a chuck berry song. Chuck got paid for it eventually and liked the song so it's nothing like the My Sweet Lord situation at all
Less obvious, but Surfer Girl was based off When you wish upon a star.
Yes on the sheet music it has music, Chuck Berry words, Brian Wilson.
When I played in club bands we would look for different songs we could “mash up” to extend out the play and keep people on the dance floor. A couple of songs were spot on, but the ones that really worked were What I Like About You mashed into R.O.C.K. in the USA by Mellencamp, then go back to What I Like About You. Except for a couple of breaks and such- the same exact chord progression. Kept them on the dance floor for 7-8 minutes just with 2 songs!
Klein had Ju-Ju eyeballs!
Mister Klein (doo lang doo lang doo lang) He's got ju-ju eyes (doo lang doo lang doo lang)
This is perfect example why copyright law is ridiculous. It should be ended.
I love "This Song" so much, it's a masterpiece with its witty sharp lyrics, and a heroic parody art of the law case.
Everyone I know recognized "My Sweet Lord" as a copy of "He's So Fine" when it came out, it was that obvious. We weren't surprised there was a lawsuit and that Harrison lost.
Having known George, I have a funny story about this--an in-joke by George, for George, at Friar Park.
A 3-note pattern is copywriteable? So ridiculous.
The ridiculous part is that it IS the law. Lawyers only act on the law. Therefore, the law needs to be changed, and that is the job of politicians, which then relates to who owns THEM - ie big business. Our system of democracy is broken and until we fix that we will have ridiculous events like this. Ban all political donations in order to drastically reduce the corruption of our democracy!
Astounding that a three note sequence can establish copyright. Surely all Harrisonn's lawyers needed to do was find a three note precedent to "She's so fine" and thereby establish that this song too was derived from a previous work.
My favourite example is Black Sabbath's 'Paranoid' -- the initial riff is almost note by note the same as Led Zeppelin's recurring bridge in 'Dazed and Confused'. And that one, as far as I know, never got challenged.
Speaking of Led Zep, they're busy enough with the Stairway lawsuit. I haven't heard about that in a while. Maybe it got resolved?
Something I've never seen mentioned anywhere: Any competent lawyer could've won this by showing that in not suing The Buckingham's for "Kind of A Drag" (1967), The Chiffons technically forfeited the right to sue Harrison for "My Sweet Lord" (1970).
Nailed it
KOAD is similar, but in total, is a very different melody. Short phrases aren’t protected. Chord progressions aren’t protected. If George just sang that 2 -bar phrase once, & made some changes after that, no lawsuit.
What do you mean? That Bright Tunes needed to enforce their copyright in order to maintain it, so by not suing The Buckinghams they forfeited that right? What's that based upon? I'm genuinely curious and not trying to troll or anything, it's just something I've heard before and I'm wondering where it comes from.
@@thedeadpants they are saying that, but that's not true, you can enforce an infringement upon your own discretion of likeness, and it's all subjective
Sol-mi-re is a VERY common. There's probably a million pieces with that pattern. God I HATE copy right law. It's like owning the rights to a specific sentence that no one else can use in their book. Ridiculous.
"it's like owning a sentence that no one else can use in their book"
Yeah that happens moron it's called plagiarism..
@@KenMabie Are you purposefully obtuse? Plagiarism requires more than a common sentence. It must be memorable and distinct. Sol - mi - re is hardly distinct nor memorable as a melodic pattern. It is used countless times in pieces from public domain. If you mean to defend this lawsuit, you're wrong.
I don’t get how he lost the lawsuit smh
considering how all tiers are round, I agree
During the scandal, Klein bought Bright Tunes, and then re-launched the lawsuit. THEN George bought the publishing rights to "He's So Fine". Gotta love a good Beatles scandal. From Pete Forever Ringo Never to We're More Popular than Jesus to I'll Play Whatever you Want me to Play to Ten Days in a Japanese prison to......DRAG, ISN'T IT.
I recall George in an interview mentioning the court case on his "My Sweet Lord" which annoyed and bemused him considering literally hundreds of other artists copied Beatles songs but rarely did Beatles lawyers take these people to court over plagiarism and copy writes. Funny enough George said his song was a cop out of "Oh happy day" rather than "Hes so fine" but maybe he said that because the ownership of that song was harder to prove. Who knows?
I think George was exactly right, saying basically that 3 notes should not constitute a copyright violation. Apparently the judge wasn't interested in Harrison's defense that would have shown a plethora of songs use 3 similar notes. Unfortunately for Harrison, he had a bad judge decide the case, a case that should have been thrown out.
Agree. In the 80s the Jams "Start" was so similar to Georges "Taxman" but he never took them to court over it.
George, after Paul sued him and the other Beatles: "I can't believe my friend would sue me."
Also George: "I thinks I'm gonna sue Ringo."
I've always noticed that the opening track to George Harrison's 1982 album Gone Troppo, Wake Up My Love and the opening track to Ringo Starr's 1983 album Old Wave, In My Car sound similar. They both start with a series of short, sharp, quick notes as the rest of the instrumentation builds up and the sequence of notes are repeated throughout the two songs. Is it just a coincidence that they use a similar structure or was one of the two friends copying and paying tribute to the other?
Bright tunes...the same guys that stole "In the jungle the mighty jungle." How ironic!
Yes Mbube (in the jungle) is a South African song
I loved what Lennon said about it in an interview in 1980 about the case. He said, " George walked right into that one. Maybe he thought God would let him off or something."
Why then Lennon did not defend George in court?
@@RobertoPoncebk Why would he defend George when he thought he was guilty?
@@catloveralways Lennon was spiteful of course. We could be that later, when he, after having sung about guns and killings, and talking about kings' assassinations - he walked right into that one ;)
@@MegaPlexy I'm sure that Lennon never said it in spite. I took it as typical of his sarcastic humour present in the 1980 interview where I read it. As for guns and killings, he also sang Imagine and All you need is love among many others. Happy New Year to you and all the best.
So if Harrison was sued for his version of My Sweet Lord, how come the people on CZcams get away with doing cover version of songs with having absolutely no permission to the original song.
Is that not breaking copyright?
Let's be clear about this, GEORGE SAID THAT 'MY SWEET LORD WAS INSPIRED BY THE EDWIN HAWKINS SINGERS' VERSION OF 'OH HAPPY DAY', which was in the charts a couple of years before George released 'My Sweet Lord'. George, through his lawyers, stated this in court during the Bright Tunes / 'He's So Fine' lawsuit.
Nothing to do with 'He's So Fine', which can itself be looked at as a rip-off of the traditional 'Oh Happy Day'.
And if you listen to 'Oh Happy Day' you will hear far more similarities to 'MSL' than there are in 'He's So Fine'.
Thanks for posting this. I'm checking out Oh Happy Day to see how it sounds.
woah
Wow.. the Happy Days tv show theme song is much different... what wha... oh
My mistake
Anyway you are right... the spiritual feeling of oh Happy Day makes it closer related..
... the court should consider the mood of a song.
The lawsuit was looking at two songs that are night and day regarding emotion
There are only 7 notes in the musical scale plus a few 1/2 notes and each key is limited to just a few harmonic related notes out of those seven notes and related 1/2 notes ultimately leading to many possible repitions (copy write) of previously written musical tunes what makes a song individual are the words, inspiration and meaning/motivation.
John Mealor ...All George had to do was add a few extra notes and he would have been in the clear
@Andrew Battersby Exactly. The focus on _tonal_ compositions (and what's stylistically popular for "the time") drives the possibilities down. That's what prompted Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern to explore _atonal_ music as a way to break free of Romanticism, the so-called spoiled fruit of their time, music which they thought had run its course in terms of notes and phrasing.
@@George-gk5bu Only mathematic illiterates claim there were infinite combinations of finite symbols. There aren't.
@@hlcepeda Schoenberg!!! The name I was expecting to see here, thanks!!!
John Belushi as Ron Decline didn't cost the Rutles anything.
Right, in fact, he said if he had the money, he'd give it to them.
As an amateur songwriter, I am familiar with the fact that you dont know if the song you just wrote is actually someone elses? Paul McCartney wrote Yesterday in 1964 and asked everyone he knew if they heard the melody of Yesterday somewhere else or if it was his own? In 1965 he finally dared to release it on the Beatles album "Help".
So you're saying he actually needed somebody's help?
I am also an amateur songwriter, and if what you say about McCartney is true, I can really relate to that - a. because you are inspired by lots of songs which you know - and b. because there are millions of songs which you don't know which could easily be similar ...
Matt Flinders with “Picking up Pebbles” and Billy Joel’s “My Life” are very similar!
John Lennon later was sued for using the lyric "Here come old flat top, He come grooving up slowly" in Come Together" which was almost a direct lift from the Chuck Berry song "You Can't Catch Me". John lost the case.
Chuck Berry sued The Beach Boys because he believed that "Surfin USA was a ripoff of his "Sweet Little Sixteen. Berry won the case.
It was identical except for the words
It totally was in every way. Even the guitar solo.
Klein's self-interested actions after the original lawsuit were motivated by pure greed. He was known as unethical and universally disliked by clients. He's been quoted as having once said that he has "the ability to live like a thief". Ironically, ABKCO's current vinyl manufacturing is of poor quality. Maybe all of the company's dissatisfied customers should sue it.
I didn't know ABKCO had that vinyl reputation (I'm a novice when it comes to modern releases). Is it more on the mastering side or is it the actual vinyl cutting?
“My Sweet Lord” always sounded familiar, but I think it’s more of a familiarity of style. It’s a pity somebody didn’t point it out to George before it was recorded, but perhaps it’s a case of ‘the Emperor’s clothes’. Rick Beato’s done a good posting on this to illustrate his belief that such claims are largely bogus. Who were The Chiffons plagiarising? I’m just listening to a lot of early jazz/blues, and it’s a bit like pie and chips - variations, but....
Allen Klein is representative of everything that is bad about music industry.
Besides the already simmering tensions between the members of the Beatles that eventually led to them breaking up. Allen Klein had a substantial part to play in that result too. He was known for being an absolute a**hole tyrant in the music industry for several decades.
His greedy ass was also had a part to play in UK band, The Verve losing out on a substantial amount of royalties and benefits from their hit single 'Bitter Sweet Symphony'.
Imho the blurred line one always baffled me enough. It surely different enough imho. A lot of these song sound inspired but dont have enough sampled progression to justify the lawsuits.
Why couldn‘t Harrison prove the usage of those three notes in another song prior to He‘s So Fine?
A little bit of R&R trivia here....Feb 11,1964 Washington Sports Arena..The Beatles in their first U.S. Concert Performance..On the bill :The Caravelles,Tommy Roe and..... Guess who?
THE CHIFFONS!!!
Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman?????
What about James Taylor's "Something In The Way She Moves" recorded on Apple records before Harrison (The Beatles) wrote & recorded "Something"? This has been talked about for years.
Good example that apparently James got the memo not to file a lawsuit on that. hahaha
@@JohnNiemsMusic Not long after, James was back in the USA with a Warner Brothers recording contract and the #3 album on the charts. Smart man. He moved on. Ha ha indeed!
@@larrybrunson6311 Yes indeed on that too. When MY SWET LORD came out I was already singing HE'S SO FINE to that song when it came on the radio all the time myself! I do that all the time when I hear another song when one is playing.
Completely different melody.
Bill Clausen yes, but very similar first phrase. Exactly the same words, ascending notes for Taylor and descending for Harrison. Quite a coincidence just the same, particularly since the phrase is the name of the song.
soooooooooo many songs are constantly ripped off, ive noticed at least 20 in my life just out of the blue because i heard one of them and it clicked. The INTENT is what matters.
The bass line for "Can't touch this" was the same for "Super Freak".
George Harrison is a very talented musician. I don’t think he has gotten credit for his beautiful music. All of his songs have a deep meaning and the beautiful music he puts with the lyrics is amazing. All will be classics.
Sometimes I think The Beatles eventually became too small for all four of them. I also tend to think the writing on the wall for The Beatles was the death of Brian Epstein.
Another point about this misfortunate circumstance when it was over the judge told George's attorney he liked both of the songs! lol, this is too funny especially after he had ruled them the same exact song with different lyrics.
“Across the Border” by ELO and “Heroes and Villains”
By The Beach Boys.
It is a 3 note figure that I am sure has been used many times. When you place the two songs next to each other with the channels isolated I hear it but just by hearing the songs themselves this wouldn't have occurred to me in a lifetime. The two songs that have always sounded the same to me are Heaven Is a Place on Earth by Belinda Carlisle and Bon Jovi - You Give Love A Bad Name and they were released about a year apart.
I grew up in that era. At no time when I first heard My Sweet Lord did I think of He's So Fine..